Telpherage system



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4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J5/90 J. B. MAYNADIBR.

TELPHERAGE SYSTEM.

No. 441,250. Patented N0v.25, 1890.

No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. E. MAYNADIBR. TBLPHBRAGB SYSTEM.

Patented Nov WH E5 5 E 5.

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TELPHERAGB SYSTEM.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

Patented Nov.

Nall/11,250.

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` (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

J. B. MAYNADIBR.

TELPHERAGE SYSTEM.

Patented N0v.25,1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE.

JAMES EYELETH MAYNADIER, OF TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TELPHERAGE SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 441,250, dated November 25, 1890.

Application filed August 4,' 1890. Serial Nol 360,982. (No model.)

Improved Telpherage System, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part hereof, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the cap and one section of a compound vehicle embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a front clef vation of Fig. 1 with the cap removed. Figs. 3 and Il are sections on lines 3 3 and 4 l of Fig. 1. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are sections on lines 5 5, 6 6, and 7 7 of Fig. 3. elevation, partly in section, of one form of cap. Fig. 9 is a sectional elevation of a trackcoil and tracks with the vehicle in dotted lines. Fig. 10 is a double view, the right half being a section on line 10 l0 of Fig. 9, and the left half a section on line l0n 10 of Fig. 9. Fig. 1l is a diagram illustrating a compound vehicle with ten (10) coils in connection with five (5) track-coils.

In my patent, No. 425,038, dated April S, 1890, I have described a system of telpherage now called the teleport, which consists, essentially, of a vehicle propelled by means of alternating currents through a number of stationary coils or rings; and my present invention relates, primarily, to vehicles for the teleport system, and consists in a compound vehicle made up of a number of coils connected together to form a single vehicle by means of hollow couplings.

Another feature of myinvention relates to the construction of the track-coils or conductors, and consists in a skeleton construction of the track-coils, as fully explained below.

In the drawings, A A', dsc., represent vehicles each composed mainly of a coil substantially such as are described in my patent above referred to.

BB', &c., represent hollow couplings. The front and rear coils A and AD are provided with caps O O' of the proper shape to aid in reducing air-resistance when the compound vehicle travels rapidly through the air. I prefer to make these caps detachable for ease Fig. 8 is a side in emptying and filling the compound vehicle.

The coils or cars A A', &c., are substantially as described in my patent, except that they are provided with a suitable fastening to receive thc studs b3, which project from the couplings B B', &c. I have shown each compound vehicle as made up of a number of coils A A', &c., each permanently secured to couplings B B', &c., for convenience in emptying and filling; and also, in order that any car A A', &c.,may be readily replaced by another, I prefer to make the cars A A', &c., and couplings B B', ttc., uniform, respectively, and connect them by fastenings, so that they can be readily attached. The fastening shown, consisting of three studs b3 on each coupling, which enter corresponding holes in the head aand are there caught by a catch a?, is a simple and cincient fastening.

The main advantage of my invention is that it allows the track-coils to be placed farther a-part than is possible wherethe car is constructed as shown in my patent without loss of eifective pull or propelling force, and where very high speeds are required enaables the pull or propelling force to be many times increased. Thus, if one car A were used singly it would be subjected to a given pull every time it passed through a coil; but my compound car is subjected to ten such pulls when ten cars A A', ttc., are coupled together to form one compound car-that is, the pull is increased ten times with the same number of track-coils or five times with half the number, or is the same with one-tenth the num- IOO spiral springs whose axes coincide in each coupling, all three of which are secured at one end to a car-section and at the other end to a ring, from which the studs b3 project. These three spiral springs and their covering thus make a short cylinder, which, in connection with the car A, constitutes a car-section, a number of these sections connected making the compound car, and by means of the studs b3 the coupling fast to car A is readily connected to the head (t of the car A', as above explained.

In the diagram Fig. 1l, I illustrate a vehicle `long enough to be acted upon by several track-coils D D', &c., simultaneously. Here the vehicle is first propelled by the energy of coil D acting with the coil on car A, next of coil D acting with coil of car A', and so on, until all the car-coils act in connection with coil D, but, as will be clear from the diagram, coils D D', &c., will all act when arranged relatively to `the car, as shown in Fig. 11, with each of the car-coils. I reduce the air-resistance by allowing the ready escape of air from the track-coils; and this part of my invention consists in leaving airspaces between the turns of the track-coil and in' supporting the track-coils upon a skeleton support-that is, a support with air-spaces-as shown in Figs. 9 and 10.

The details of construction shown may be widely departed from, as I have shown only the preferred form; but the main matter is to allow the free escape of air from the trackcoils, which I accomplish by the spaces between thc convolutions d of Vthe coils and the spaces between the parts of the i rame d', by which the coils are held.

In the plan shown the circuit from the mains L L is completed through each carcoil as soon as it becomes flush with a trackcoil by means of the brushes f and electrodes f' on the vehicle, and as the trackcoil is a closed circuit a current is induced in it, and the car-coil is subjectedy to a force tending to move it endwise through the track-coil, as well as to center it in the track-coil. Suppose now that the number of convolutions or turns in each car-coil is, say, for easy figuring, one hundred, that the leads L L are'kept at a constant diEerence of alternating potential of, say, one thousand volts, and that the leads are large enough to carry a current of, say, one hundred ampres; also, that it is desired to have a maximum current of one hundred ampres at one thousand voltsin the car-coil. Then, as it is highly desirable to reduce the amount of wire in each track-coil to the minimum,'and as the track-coils may be regarded as secondary conductors, the car-coils being the primary, it will be necessary to determine the current which must iiow through the track-coil in order that a current of one hundred ampres at one thousand volts may iiow through the car-coil. If the number of turns in the track-coil were equal to the number in the car-coil, the voltage would be the same substantially in both coils, and the resistance in the trackcoils would therefore be made sufficient to prevent more than the maximum current of one hundred ampres flowing through it with a voltage of one thousand; but this would require a very iine wire in order to get ten ohms resistance. I therefore prefer to reduce the voltage by reducing the number of turns in the track-coils; but this of course requires a larger current in the trackcoils. For example, if there be but twenty turns in each track-coil and one hundred turns in each carcoil-thatis,iivetimes as many turns in the car-coil as in the trackcoil-the maximum voltage of the current induced in the track-coil will be twenty onehundredths or one-fifth of the voltage in the car-coil, or two hundred volts in the trackcoil with one thousand volts in the car-coil. On the other hand, the maximum current in the track-coil must be tive times that of the maximum current in the car-coil, or five hundred ampres if one hundred ampres be desired in the car-coils. The ohmic resistance in the track-coil must therefore be only fourtenths of an ohm, which allows a wire to be used for the track-coils of a cross-section so large that it is readily fastened to its skeleton support, as shown in the drawings. Such a wire would of course be heated far more than it should be if the induced current were continued for an appreciable time; but the induced current in any track-coil lasts only a small fraction of a second, and for that reason the heating eect may be practically disregarded--that is to say, the cross-section of the wire may be far smaller than would be practical if the maxi mum current in the trackcoils were to ilow without interruption for a considerable time.

It will be obvious that a soft-iron core may be dispensed with in the car; but for greater effect I use a soft-iron core on the track-coils, and this core must be a skeleton to allow the free .escape of air radially from the trackcoils. The core shown is made of bundles d ot strips of sheet-iron, the bundles being arranged in a circle and held by rings d3 at each end, or otherwise properly secured to the heads d* of the track-coils.

While I have shown my compound vehicle as made up of a number of pairs, each consisting of a car and coupling, that is mainly for the purpose ot ready separation into parts, for, as will be clear, the vehicle may be a long tube of rubber or leather somewhat like a suction-hose, with a spiral of copper Wire reaching from end to end, the brushes being so arranged as to cause a current (either from the mains or induced) through a portion only of the spiral at any one moment. In this case that part of the coil which is made a closed circuit by the brushes corresponds with the coils of that form of my improved vehicle shown in the drawings, while that part of the car surrounded by those turns of the coil which are not energized is IIO the coupling during that time. This com` connected by hollow couplings B 1S. &c.,end

vehicle,lfor the coil is divided up by the 2. The skeleton truck-coils l(tbovcdescribed, 5 brushes into :i series of coils acting one after whose turns d have air-spaces between them,

the other with the track-coils, and at any and whose support d is also provided with given moment the active turns of the coil are air-spaces, all substantially as described.

connected by the idle turns which then form v Tr with the leather tube hollovv couplings. JAMES El ELETH MAX BADIER' single car is yet in substance my compound t stantially as set forth.` I5

1o Vhat I claim as my invention is 'itnesses:

1. The compound vehicle above described, EDWARD S. BEACH, consisting of a plurality ot coils A A', &c., JOHN R. SNOW.

pound vehicle although inone sense it is a provided with terminal caps C C', all sube 

